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Richard M. Glass

At the same time as the manuscript editing and composition of articles for an issue are proceeding, advertisements are scheduled for specific issues, and possibly for specific positions in an issue (eg, ... More

At the same time as the manuscript editing and composition of articles for an issue are proceeding, advertisements are scheduled for specific issues, and possibly for specific positions in an issue (eg, back cover or facing the table of contents). Advertising sales and placement should be administratively separate from all editorial functions to ensure that there is no influence by an advertiser on any editorial decisions. As stated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, editors must have full and final authority for approving advertisements and enforcing advertising policies. Staff members responsible for issue makeup should ensure that there ...Less

Richard M. Glass

If a paper is rejected, authors occasionally ask for reconsideration, usually because they believe the reviewers or the editor have misjudged the importance and quality of the submission. This situation ... More

If a paper is rejected, authors occasionally ask for reconsideration, usually because they believe the reviewers or the editor have misjudged the importance and quality of the submission. This situation can be viewed in 2 different ways. On the one hand, peer review and editorial decisions are based on fallible human judgments. Mistakes can be made, so perhaps the rejected manuscript merits reconsideration. On the other hand, heeding appeals for reconsideration may fulfill the adage “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Reconsideration of papers solely on the basis of author complaints could be unfair to authors who have equally legitimate ...Less

Richard M. Glass

Two major criteria are central to the evaluation of manuscripts submitted for publication: importance and quality. Importance involves an assessment of whether the work • Represents a scientific advance ... More

Two major criteria are central to the evaluation of manuscripts submitted for publication: importance and quality. Importance involves an assessment of whether the work • Represents a scientific advance (recognizing that individual articles usually convey only small advances) • Has clinical relevance (if the journal is to be read and the information used by practicing clinicians) • Presents new information • Will be of interest to readers An additional component of importance is editorial priority, a composite judgment made by the editor regarding the value of a particular submission relative to other submissions under evaluation at the same time, weighed ...Less

Richard M. Glass

Once the author’s and reviewing editor’s changes have been made in the manuscript file, the document is ready to be composed, or made into pages. Before the widespread use of electronic page makeup systems, ... More

Once the author’s and reviewing editor’s changes have been made in the manuscript file, the document is ready to be composed, or made into pages. Before the widespread use of electronic page makeup systems, galley proofs of typeset text in long columns were produced. A layout served as the model for the page, showing breaks (if any) in the title, type sizes and spacing in the text, and placement of tables, figures, and headings. The galley proofs were then cut and pasted along with the tables and art to make page proofs. In an electronic composition system, codes must be ...Less

Richard M. Glass

Among the unsettled issues in peer review are efforts to conceal the identities of authors (and their affiliations) from reviewers, and the question of whether the identities of reviewers should be revealed ... More

Among the unsettled issues in peer review are efforts to conceal the identities of authors (and their affiliations) from reviewers, and the question of whether the identities of reviewers should be revealed to authors. Biomedical journals commonly use a “single-blind” (single-masked) review process in which authors’ identities are revealed to reviewers, but the names of reviewers are not revealed to authors (see , Ethical and Legal Considerations, Confidentiality, Confidentiality During Editorial Evaluation and Peer Review and After Publication). This process recognizes the difficulty of concealing author identities, makes it easier for reviewers to detect attempts at duplicate publication by the ...Less

Richard M. Glass

Errors are an inevitable part of the publishing process. Fortunately, authors or readers commonly call them to the journal’s attention, or they are found during the internal quality-review process, and ... More

Errors are an inevitable part of the publishing process. Fortunately, authors or readers commonly call them to the journal’s attention, or they are found during the internal quality-review process, and corrections can be published. In JAMA, corrections are printed at the end of the Letters to the Editor section and are listed in the Table of Contents. Corrections should be indexed, with a cross-reference to the original article. This will enable online database services (such as MEDLINE) to link indexed articles with published corrections (see , Ethical and Legal Considerations, Editorial Responsibilities, Roles, Procedures, and Policies, Correspondence [Letters to the ...Less

Richard M. Glass

The assessment process (Figure ) consists of 2 phases: editorial review and peer review. In editorial review, editors first assess submissions for their overall quality and appropriateness for the publication’s ... More

The assessment process (Figure ) consists of 2 phases: editorial review and peer review. In editorial review, editors first assess submissions for their overall quality and appropriateness for the publication’s readership. Some manuscripts are rejected on the basis of this editorial “triage.” Manuscripts that pass this initial step go on to the peer review phase. Peer review (see , Peer Review) involves evaluation by experts who are “peers” of the authors with regard to knowledge about the topic of the submission, and may also include evaluation by expert statistical reviewers (see , Statistical Review). The integrity of the editorial assessment ...Less

The principal goals of editing biomedical publications are to select, improve, and disseminate information that will advance the art and science of the discipline covered by the publication. ... More

The principal goals of editing biomedical publications are to select, improve, and disseminate information that will advance the art and science of the discipline covered by the publication. For example, biomedical publications are a major source of information for the improvement of medical care. In addition to initial transmission to readers at the time of publication, information from journal articles is often carried by the public media. Published articles influence educators and opinion leaders, who transmit the information to many persons who do not read the original publications. Medical journal articles can also be subsequently accessed by clinicians and researchers seeking information about particular topics. Such searches are facilitated by online search engines (see 25.0, Resources) and provide the information essential to practicing evidence-based medicine,1 in which patient-care decisions are informed by acquiring and assessing the relevant medical literature. These myriad uses of biomedical literature indicate the importance of the procedures to improve quality involved in editorial assessment and processing...Less

Richard M. Glass

On the basis of evaluations by the editors and peer reviewers, submitted manuscripts are either rejected or returned to authors with suggestions for improvement through revision. Authors should realize ... More

On the basis of evaluations by the editors and peer reviewers, submitted manuscripts are either rejected or returned to authors with suggestions for improvement through revision. Authors should realize that a request for revision does not guarantee acceptance, because revised manuscripts are subject to editorial review and may also have additional peer review. Several rounds of review and revision may occur before a final decision is reached. Acceptance of manuscripts expressing viewpoints, perspectives, or opinions may be based solely on editorial review, but reports of original data and other major articles almost always undergo peer review, statistical review, and revision ...Less

Richard M. Glass

Editorial processing refers to the processing of manuscripts after acceptance in preparation for publication (Figure ). With the development of electronic document processing, the term manuscript has ... More

Editorial processing refers to the processing of manuscripts after acceptance in preparation for publication (Figure ). With the development of electronic document processing, the term manuscript has moved increasingly far from its handwritten origins to refer to a prepublication document, whether it happens to be a hard-copy typescript or an electronic file. Manuscript submission, peer review, editing, processing, and tracking are now commonly performed electronically. A major technical issue for many publishers is the need to efficiently process content for multiple publication outputs, such as print, Web, reprints, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). The use of electronic markup languages such ...Less